Right or Obtuse: Measuring Sharron Angle

To the Republican nominee running against Senate Leader, Democrat Harry Reid in Nevada: Do “second amendment remedies” for disagreements over government policies extend to state legislatures and county and city councils, or should “second amendment remedies” just be confined to the federal government? Exactly how will this work?

I ask because I heard a recorded interview you did with a broadcaster during which you claimed. “our founding fathers, they put that second amendment in there for a good reason; and that was for the people to protect themselves against a tyrannical government” . . .(you cited Thomas Jefferson, hope we don't have a revolution, but added) . . “if this government keeps going the way it is, people are looking toward those second amendment remedies, saying what can we do to turn this Congress around and the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out . . .” [my transcript, /wr; http://bit.ly/aO7awu].

Obviously, she's not talking about shooting Harry Reid, or calling for his assassination. Angle is skillfully using a rhetorical device; its ambiguity hammers home her point. But the irony of her pun belies its violence.

Angle touts her gun ownership and says she uses a “Dirty Harry canon.” But her words are a casual endorsement of extreme actions. Like an unlocked hand gun, her words are irresponsible and dangerous. Her example citing a founding American principle belittles the democratic process she wants to win, distorts the purpose of the second amendment and borders on sedition.

Her remarks could get people killed.

So I ask, how far is she willing to go?

Is the right “to keep and bear arms,” more important than feeding the hungry, tending the sick, comforting the dying or educating the youth, or adding jobs to the economy?

After all, a state senator in nearby Utah has called for the abolishment of 12th grade in Utah high schools to save $102 million; does Angle also support such drastic non-violent spending cuts?

Is she lured only by “lock and load?” How far down and when should these “remedies” begin?

Ms. Angle has called questions about her comments, “nitpicking”(http://bit.ly/aLnHWC+). She blames Harry Reid, her opponent, for the discussion and media focus; it's his policies she feels are wrong and his party is tone deaf to American protests.

But the rub is Reid and the Democrats who control the Senate and House were elected, state by state, district by district, poll by poll. They were elected by the ballot. Not by the bullet.

Sharron Angle has raised more than $1.4 million and has over 5,000 facebook friends. Her race with Reid is neck and neck. Yet her websites are spare with specifics.

So I want to know does she believe that the second amendment guarantees and encourages citizens to put up arms to overturn the government? Don't we settle our differences by elections? Don't we put forth our vision for society by legislation?

There was a time when politicians who were clever with words and ideas got laughs, built loyalty by their wit, and deflated their opponents by exposing the absurdity of their positions.

Now campaign rhetoric is driven by a lower standard: anger. Anger is this year's requisite quality for high office. Anger and a determined obstinacy that is unwilling to explain political positions, discuss specifics, offer details, describe the impact of policies, or deflate their own rhetoric.

I recall a historic exception to the idea that the second amendment levels the political playing field, or can be used to accurately reflect the people's will.

Mrs. Angle makes no mention of it, but the second amendment has often been widely used to support tyranny at lower levels of society, especially here in Charleston, after the American revolution. Here's just one example, from the Charleston Gazette newspaper reported in 1817, “that the victim of an attempted robbery struck a slave running away in the skull with a “musket lock,” killing him. Upon the judge's hearing and recommendation, the slave's head was severed, foisted on a pike, and displayed “at the cross roads, near Ashley Ferry.”

But in 1817, politicians also engaged in rigorous debate, writing long detailed treatises, citing historic examples. Mrs. Angle seems to have reduced the current political discussion to sound bites, given to those she favors, who receive her pronouncements without any examination of her views or concrete specifics. This is dangerous because it exempts her from accountability, from buying into the long tradition that has stood the country in good stead of politicians setting down their views in detail so that the electorate can given those ideas carefully consideration.

Rigorous debate improves the process. Blaming your opponents, parodying our celebrated revolution, wrapping yourself in its cloak without the sacrifice or commitment to upholding its democratic values of accepting and working with your political opponents making holding office a farce. The American ideal of democracy was unheard of anywhere in the world until it became an American norm.

It is worthy of being maintained. It should not be lightly treaded on. And those who suggest a “second amendment remedy” to its issues and current miasma should have a lot of questions to answer.

That is a first amendment right. It is a longstanding remedy for our differences. It has worked effectively for more than 200 years. Let's hope Sharron Angle answers questions and proudly put the remedies of discussion and explanation guaranteed by the first amendment to good use.

Comments

The author is clearly out of touch. He doesn't even know the difference between a "canon" and a "cannon", never mind that it means he's misquoting Angle.

But beyond that, not unlike many gutless quislings, he just doesn't seem to get it: So let me make it very clear:

This country was founded in VIOLENT rebellion, wresting liberty from an oppressive government by bullet and bayonet. Citizens slaughtered members of government and their minions. The process wasn't carried out by a bunch of powdered-whig dandies sipping tea with pinkie fingers extended. The bloody maceration of oppressive government was carried out by armed citizens.

Don't think it cannot happen again.

If government does not change its course, EXPECT it to happen again.

It's not that Angle's remarks could get people killed. It's that the rampant abuse by politicians of citizens could get people killed.

Is the right “to keep and bear arms,” more important than feeding the hungry, tending the sick, comforting the dying or educating the youth, or adding jobs to the economy?

In a word - yes. Because all of the former can be carried out with citizens as slaves. But an armed citizenry has the option to say "enough", rise up and kill their masters.

How far down and when should these “remedies” begin?

Could be years. Could be today. It is said that during the revolutionary war, just 3% of the citizens actually took the field. Today, if just 3% of gun owners took the field to overthrow oppressive government, they would outnumber all of the military personnel in all five branches of the military plus all of the reserve components. And keep in mind that many of those people would fight on the side of the Constitution.

Sharron Angle isn't fomenting rebellion and violence. She's trying to WARN the oblivious (including you) that an organic, grassroots unrest is building that could easily result in massive bloody violence as Americans take back their liberty.

secondly, those armed citizens of 4 centuries ago didn't have to fight jets tanks and battleships. just other dudes with guns.
thirdly, just relax, sit back and have a glass of lemonade. It is very refreshing.

you are out of touch if you think her words are a warning. and the quote is verbatim. I provide the link. And what about the first amendment--doesn't it count? Revolution within is called a civil war, and we already tried that when folks jusitified violence "warning."

you are out of touch if you think her words are a warning. and the quote is verbatim. I provide the link. And what about the first amendment--doesn't it count? Revolution within is called a civil war, and we already tried that when folks jusitified violence "warning."

you are out of touch if you think her words are a warning. and the quote is verbatim. I provide the link. And what about the first amendment--doesn't it count? Revolution within is called a civil war, and we already tried that when folks jusitified violence "warning."

you are out of touch if you think her words are a warning. and the quote is verbatim. I provide the link. And what about the first amendment--doesn't it count? Revolution within is called a civil war, and we already tried that when folks jusitified violence "warning."

you are out of touch if you think her words are a warning. and the quote is verbatim. I provide the link. And what about the first amendment--doesn't it count? Revolution within is called a civil war, and we already tried that when folks jusitified violence "warning."

Thank all for reading! The diversity of comments are the best way to discuss and resolve our differences. I would like to say as a Southerner and African-American who has had a gun put in his face as a "warning" by those who once starved slaves and let them die (which is why slaves revolt!) by those who wanted to" take back" their priviledges which they called" liberty" and states rights. Despite that, and the memory, I still have a sense of good humor.

And oh, a simple spelling change doesn't mean I don't know the difference: it is an intended writer's pun; canon as in an "established principle." Isn't the gun her "canon?"

I can guarantee you this -- if she gets elected, as with everyone in Congress, people will need to walk through a metal detector before they can see her.

This is just another example of a politician who won't walk the walk. If she really means what she says about being so pro 2nd amendment, if elected she will enter a bill in Congress to eliminate all metal detectors at Congress. Why shouldn't they face the same gun-carrying folks they are insisting all the rest of us must face every single day?